This invention concerns a corkscrew with a fitting to shear the tinfoil, plastic or other caps on the neck of bottles.
To be more exact, the invention concerns a corkscrew which is advantageously, but not only, of a type which can be carried in the pocket, is used to extract corks or crown corks and is equipped with a fitting able to shear the tinfoil, plastic or other cap that normally covers the upper part of the neck of bottles, this shearing fitting being provided directly on the grip of the corkscrew.
The normal practice is that the neck of bottles is covered with a cap consisting of a tinfoil, plastic or other sheet, which may be more or less strong and performs mainly aesthetic functions besides protecting the cork or metallic crown cork.
This cap is firmly fixed to the neck of the bottle and can be removed by hand only with some difficulty.
The normal practice is to draw the cork from the bottle without removing at least part of the cap beforehand. The outcome of this practice is that, when the liquid is poured from the bottle, the liquid comes into contact with the remnants of the torn cap, thus leading to obvious hygienic and unsightly shortcomings.
Fittings have been disclosed which are suitable to remove at least the upper part of the cap.
One embodiment disclosed in EP-A-0220850 includes an element which consists advantageously of a plastic material, is shaped as a "U" or opposed double "C", is resilient and is equipped with small shearing wheels on its inner sides. These small shearing wheels are made to cooperate with the neck of the bottle and to shear the cap circumferentially.
This embodiment entails the drawback of requiring the use of an additional element, which is not an integral part of the corkscrew and may therefore become lost and anyway is not practical nor quick to use.
Moreover, these small wheels have their peripheral bevelled portion facing upwards, and so the upper edge of the lower part of the tinfoil cap still attached to the bottle stays slightly separated from the neck of the bottle, thus involving the risk that the user may cut himself, and also the problem of drops of liquid seeping into the space created between the remainder of the tinfoil cap and the neck of the bottle.
Furthermore, the force applied to the small shearing wheel tends to unhinge that wheel from the element which supports and connects it to the grip of the corkscrew, thus making the shearing fitting unusable.
Moreover, this fitting enables the cap to be sheared along only one circumference since the bottom wall of the fitting has to cooperate with the top of the neck of the bottle during the shearing of the cap.
The variant of this corkscrew has a shearing fitting forming an integral part of the corkscrew but possesses a great overall bulk without overcoming the above drawbacks.
Other known corkscrews include a fitting pivoted rotatably on the grip of the corkscrew and comprising two small shearing wheels plus two small wheels in the handle. In this way the shearing fitting grasps the neck of the bottle so that the four small wheels cooperate with the cap.
This fitting does not overcome the above problems and is also very bulky and costly besides being not very easy to handle or keep in the pocket.
Another embodiment, which is disclosed in IT-199,869, discloses a corkscrew equipped, along its grip, with a recess or a protruding profile with sharp or serrated edges, which are caused to act on the cap.
This embodiment entails the drawback of often bringing the sharp or serrated edges into contact with the hand and therefore may cause small accidents or at least discomfort for a user.
Besides, if these corkscrews are kept in a pocket, the sharp elements will cut the fabric or be caught therein.
Corkscrews are also known in which the shearing fitting consists of a blade (FR-A-1.273,285) or of a small shearing wheel (DE-C-193.734) and is rotatably pivoted on the grip of the corkscrew. These systems not only require additional opening/closing movements to bring the shearing fitting from a retracted inactive position to a working position and viceversa but also do not include means for the proper positioning of the shearing tool on the neck of the bottle.
WO-A-9118822 discloses a corkscrew in which the fitting to shear the cap consists of a protruding blade associated with an arc-shaped formation machined in the handle of the corkscrew. This embodiment does not ensure a clean, accurate shearing of the cap.
In the corkscrew shown in DE-C-839,319 the shearing fitting comprises a plurality of shearing wheels, one of which is associated with a lever that has to be actuated to make the shearing wheel cooperate with the neck of the bottle during the whole shearing operation. The wheels shown include two bevels, an upper bevel and lower bevel respectively, which not only shear the cap but also fold and stick to the neck of the bottle the upper edge of the lower part of the sheared tinfoil cap remaining attached to the bottle after the shearing step.
The upwardly facing bevel of the shearing wheels makes the sheared part of the cap stick to the glass of the bottle, and this situation may cause problems when this sheared part of the cap has to be detached, thus giving results which are not always satisfactory.
The shearing fittings of the state of the art do not include positioning and guide means which, in cooperation with the top or collar of the bottle, prevent the slipping and/or sliding of the shearing element along the neck of the bottle so as to obviate inaccurate shearing of the cap.